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While returning to the II. / IR 82, on May 10, 1940 it continued its march by Höngen, Havert, Schalbruch and Isenbruch. In Schalbruch was the readiness area of the 7. Company (reinforced). At 05: 35 hours the battalion crossed the border without encountering resistance. The 5. Company captured intact two bridges over a flooded ditch by means of two raids. The II. / IR 82 headed towards Susteren and then Gebroek. The third bridge in Illikhoven was defended by a Platoon deployed over a front of about 2000 meters and toward there headed a German special group in order to take the objective by another coup, but this time the defenders could not be deceived and they managed to detonate the explosive charges in the bridge.

The bunker located across the Juliana Canal was destroyed by the fire of anti-tank weapons. At 09:30 hours the II. Battalion crossed the Canal and without resistance reached the Meuse. At 11:00 hours the battalion crossed the Meuse up to the height of Illikhoven and unopposed reached the road Maastricht - Maaseik, then took a rest.

At Born, the bridge over the sluice could not be destroyed and therefore was well defended by an infantry platoon, three heavy machine guns mounted in casemates and two antitank guns. On the east bank were deployed groups of light machine guns as advanced posts. When the German spearhead reached that positions, the machine-gun retreated while fighting and the soldiers of the IR 82 reached the bank of the canal. The resistance at the crossing point yielded after about four hours of fighting and when one of the casemates received two direct hits, injuring the crew and destroying the gun placed there.

At 15:00 hours new order of attack, to the front the 7. Company, to the left the 5. Company, behind the 6. Company and then followed the rest of the II. Battalion. Internal boundary the railway Maaseik - Hasselt. The crossing of the canal west of Rothem failed due to defensive fire and own heavy weapons could not be moved forwards rapidly due to delays in the River crossings. The heavy weapons arrived during the night.

On May 11, 1940 at 06:00 hours new order of attack; at 0800 hours the battalion launched the attack. The enemy had withdrawn from the shore towards a machine gun nest. The 5. / IR 82 had already crossed the obstacle at 07:00 hours. The Battalion marched without resistance along the railway line to reach the station east of Dorne. Then proceeded by Gönstraat towards Height 75 north of Asch. At 17:00 hours the march was resumed, behind followed the I. Battalion and the III. Battalion by Zwenhuzen and Waterscheide ..................

Behind the two trains followed the advance guard of the IR 481 constituted by the cyclist detachment of the 5. / IR 481 (Oberleutnant Gruber) and the command of the regiment. This detachment crossed the river by the bridge and on the west bank, it received machine gun fire from the bunkers located there and suffered the first casualties (dead and wounded).

Raul,
excellent work, I really appreciate.
One correction: The source in the book "Das grüne Regiment" is wrong. Gruber was already Hauptmann since 1st of August 1936. In the letter from my grandfather to his wife, dated 17th of May 1940, he wrote that they received fire before they crossed the bridge at Gennep and that Feldwebel Schuhmein got a deadly head shot.
Bernhard